Manufacturer’s learned early on that the key to selling success lies in manipulating consumers’ fears, desires, and stereotypes. Racist soap ads seem too absurd to utilize, but that didn’t stop Pears Soap from illustrating a racist Aesop fable into an advertisement. And it worked. This ad not only left a lasting impact on the market but became a popular reference to allude to in the coming century.

Check out more ridiculous American advertising history on this week’s BackStor
y.

Vintage racist soap ads honing in on the belief that the color of one’s skin indicated one’s cleanliness and moral superiority… Really, America? Learn more about the ridiculous history of advertising in America on this week’s BackStory.

The Google Cultural Institute brings together millions of artifacts from multiple partners, with the stories that bring them to life, in a virtual museum.

Check out Google’s Cultural Institute exhibitions on African American history and culture. And to brush up on your history, explore BackStory’s previous episodes on the African American experience throughout history

How could the taboo of women smoking be challenged and then destroyed in a matter of decades? Advertising, of course. Hear more about advertisers’ propaganda tricks used in the early centuries on this week’s episode of BackStory.